{This story is a true one, I was there. It was written by my late husband, Ted, about a year or so before his passing. I liked it but I never found a place I thought it might fit until I saw the Earth Day contest. Perhaps readers will enjoy it}
Lee.
We were heading home. It had been far too long since Lee and I had visited the ranch where I grew up as a boy, then became a man.
I basked in the throb of the powerful engine in my z06 Corvette as I drove briskly down the fast lane of the freeway. You would need to drive one to understand, these are special.
Glancing over at Lee, my lovely wife, her eyes were closed and she had her seat tipped back as far as it would go.
The interior design of the machine doesn't allow for reclining the seats much, but they are so comfortable it doesn't matter.
Lee is simply a joy to the eyes, the soft light blue blouse formed and outlined her smallish breasts, her large nipples obvious under the material. She had the hem of her matching skirt pulled up, letting the sunlight in to warm her legs.
Just beautiful.
With only a few smile lines around her eyes, her features are the kind that are ageless. She could be 30, she could be 50, impossible to tell for sure. Her body is slender, and in shape, none of the sagging or slipping that should have been normal for her 48 years.
An always willing lover, even eager, Lee is the kind of woman a man usually finds only in dreams. She seems to always have just one goal, to make me, and us, happy.
Lee willingly shares herself with others, knowing I enjoy it. She also enjoys it. She also delights in watching me with another woman, and has taken steps from time to time to assist in seductions.
We have had many fine times, it is fun being naughty. Lee also is an exhibitionist by nature, she loves the looks she gets when something is exposed by "accident."
My simple glance at her as I drove started a tingling in my loins, it is always that way. I have touched and been with many women in my life, and in my work as a Massage Therapist. Yet very few ever affect me the way she does.
Lee had reacted with joy when I suggested the 200 mile trip to the ranch. We visit normally 3 to 4 times each year, this was one of those spur of the moment trips. She loves the Ranch, 400 acres of wild country, mostly untouched by human hands.
The family ranch is amazing, other than the 4 homes and outbuildings, it stands today the way God intended. I grew up learning to live off that land, my Father taught me to catch or find food that is everywhere if one knows where to look.
Yes, I have a home, but the family ranch is home to me.
My attention came back to the highway as my radar buzzed, I dropped the speed back to a steady 70 until it cleared, then back to normal.
Yes, I drive too fast, but I also can drive very well, very fast if I choose. We covered the 200 mile distance in just over 3 hours.
My 85 year old Mother was on the porch to greet us, her tiny frail frame felt good in my arms. She didn't know about the spots eating away at me in my chest, I never told her. Some things are best left unsaid.
I looked over the family pictures hanging on the wall. The main one is of my Father, gone to his reward at 96. He simply ate his breakfast one morning, went and sat down in his chair and came to a stop. No pain, no Doctors, just stopped. We should all be so blessed when our day comes.
We were barely sat down before Mom started bringing out food, like always. It is the way of Mothers all over, I guess.
As evening approached, I told Lee I was going for a walk. She knows me and understands me, she smiled and went back to her chat with Mom. "Chats" with my Mother are mostly listening, I swear, she saves up conversation until a member of the family arrives. Then all one can do is listen as she tells all the news of everything that happened since the last visit.
Stopping on the porch, I picked up my Dad's light fishing rod, and headed out across the field to the nearby slough.
The entire place is an island. The sloughs surrounding are fresh water, reclaimed by tidegates many years before from the salt water.
I grew up watching the change in the land from a saltwater marsh to acres and acres of Magenta and Gold. Light grazing during the summer keeps the fields in shape, and brings a bit of extra money to help Mom get by.
Gazing across the pasture at the far hills, the fields and hillsides that once grazed cattle, grew trees, with huge fields of hay and corn now sprout homes. I realized I walked in a pinpoint of nature, surrounded by change in every direction.
Only my Father's stubborness and lack of desire for money had saved the place. When the County had many years before sent a notice in the mail telling him the place was to be rezoned into one acre homesites, Dad had hit the roof.
He had appeared at the next Commission meeting, my 3 strapping brothers and I at his side. When it became his turn to speak, I saw my Father, a simple farmer, turn into a politician of eloquence.
"You'll not destroy this land!" he said. Then he went into a long and convincing speech about all the creatures of the soil, and how man could not live unless he kept some things as God intended.
The capper came when he cleverly mentioned the value increase of all the surrounding properties due to the view of our beautiful ranch, with wide fields and a natural water boundry, the hill in the center covered by big natural firs.
